The Scalawagons of Oz
Children's novel Fantasy | |
Publisher | Reilly & Lee |
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Publication date | 1941 |
Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
Pages | 309 pp. |
Preceded by | The Wonder City of Oz |
Followed by | Lucky Bucky in Oz |
The Scalawagons of Oz (1941) is the thirty-fifth in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum and continued by his successors; it is the second volume in the series both written and illustrated by John R. Neill.[1]
Plot
In Scalawagons, Neill exploits two characters he introduced in his previous book, The Wonder City of Oz, Number Nine and Jenny Jump.[2] Jenny is the book's protagonist, though the story begins with Number Nine, who is now an assistant to the Wizard of Oz. The Wizard has a tendency to disappear suddenly, as he pursues various projects. His latest project is the creation of a new form of transportation for the Land of Oz. In a red-domed facility atop Carrot Mountain in the Quadling Country, the Wizard has established a factory to build scalawagons, intelligent cars that can also fly. They spread their running boards like wings. In his illustrations, Neill makes them resemble the "kiddie cars" of amusement-park rides; their heads are in turrets on their roofs.
The Wizard makes Tik-Tok the superintendent of the scalawagon factory. The scalawagons are conscious, but not very smart; Tik-Tok pounds sense into them with a rubber mallet. His new duties wear on the mechanical man, however, and he runs down sooner than expected. A blue-green buckwheat cake named Bell-snickle finds the factory; bent on mischief, the monster knocks the stationary Tik-Tok out a window. Bell-snickle ignores Tik-Tok's warning signs, and fuels the scalawagons with "flabber-gas" (apparently a pun on the word "flabbergast"); they quickly fly away. In the disorder, Bell-snickle is soaked in the fluid; blown up like a balloon, he/she/it sails away into the sky — and disappears from the plot for ten chapters. "Flabber-gas" is a liquid — "gas" as in gasoline — but has the effect of lighter-than air gasses like hydrogen and helium.
The palace of
Bell-snickle returns to cause more trouble. It comes to dominate a stand of walking talking trees, and drives them toward the Emerald City in a vain attempt at conquest. At the gate of the city, the Tin Woodman terrifies the trees with his axe, and the threat is quickly disposed of. Bell-snickle is captured, and is cowed into agreeing to a new way of life: Jenny runs the monster through the turnstile of her style shop until it is reduced to a rubber stamp. Ozma also uses the converted monster as a stopper, to stop trends she doesn't approve. The Nota-bells are given quarters in a high tower of Ozma's palace, where they supply pleasant music to the city below. The story ends with a great party and dance.
Bell-snickle analysis
The antagonist of Neill's plot is a mysterious monstrosity called
Neill gives no account of Bell-snickle's origin and no explanation of its nature or abilities. The creature prides itself on being a "mystery," and attacks anything that shares that designation. It has the egotism and petulance of a spoiled child.
Puns
Baum introduced pun-dependent humor into the Oz books from the start of the series; Neill carried punning farther than any other Oz writer. In the course of her adventures, Jenny Jump lands in a field of conscious and talkative potatoes; they are ruled by a spud named Dick — he is their "Dick Tater."[5] Late in the book, the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman enjoy "a game of squash" — which they play "with ripe bananas and brickbats."[6]
Reception
In A Brief Guide to Oz, Paul Simpson writes: "Even less well regarded than Neill's effort from the previous year, perhaps unsurprisingly, copies of The Scalawagons are very hard to find!"[7]
References
- ^ John R. Neill, The Scalawagons of Oz, Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1941; New York, Books of Wonder, 1991.
- ^ Who's Who is Oz, pp. 108, 146.
- ^ Jack Snow, Who's Who in Oz, Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; p. 15.
- ^ The Scalawagons of Oz, p. 41.
- ^ The Scalawagons of Oz, pp. 203-8.
- ^ The Scalawagons of Oz, p. 262.
- ISBN 978-1-47210-988-0. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
External links
- On The Scalawagons of Oz
- The Scalawagons in Oz title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
The Oz books | ||
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Previous book: The Wonder City of Oz |
The Scalawagons of Oz 1941 |
Next book: Lucky Bucky in Oz |